About three seconds.
That's how long it took Clive Tyldesley to mention Frank Lampard's "phantom goal" against Germany, after Ukraine's Euro 2012 hopes were dashed by a visually-impaired fifth official. Perhaps the post was obscuring his view.
But this wasn't luck, according to Clive. This was justice. And luck.
And so In-Ger-Land now face Italy in the last eight, because Sweden decided to show up when there was nothing to play for, proving once and for all that Woy's Boys weally should have beaten France.
This doesn't matter anymore. What matters is how poor some of the England players are performing. Credit where credit's due: Glen Johnson was much improved (presumably he's an avid reader of this blog), and we have the best left back in the tournament - and admitting that makes me do a little bit of sick in my mouth. But Wayne's not match fit.
He's our best player, sure. He's our one genuine world-class player, sure. But he was poor last night. So was James Milner. So was Ashley Young.
Perhaps this is the sacrifice we've made to become "hard to beat" and "difficult to break down" - we don't get the best out of our forward-thinking players (not Milner). Because Rooney simply does not function in a flat four-four-two.
He never has at United and he never has for England. If anything, we looked more dangerous when Carroll came on for the last eight minutes. Wazza' came to life, suddenly occupying the space in behind a big number nine... for about five minutes until he was subbed.
But perhaps it's this system that gets the best out of the skipper:
So perhaps Uncle Woy's real lucky break came pre-tournament, with the injuries to Gareth Barry and Frank Lampard.
Perhaps.
THE STORY SO FAR
Match of the tournament: Sweden 2-3 England
Player of the tournament: Ashley Cole (England)
Goal of the tournament: Ibrahimovic (SWEDEN v France)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment